WING is an organisation that selects to work with students who they believe would benefit from building self-confidence, friendships and leadership skills. We take part every other Tuesday and Friday and go out for the day and do an activity. The activities include things like: canoeing, mountain biking, kayaking and orienteering. These help us because we have to work together as a team and/or by ourselves to figure things out. So far we have been: canoeing, navigating, cycling and we have completed forest school training.

However, the best part is that we all have fun and enjoy taking part in the activities that WING offer. Sometimes we are faced with challenges such as jumping over a deep ravine and splitting up the canoes. Some of us do get scared at times but the rest of us will help them through it. At the start of WING none of us knew each other but I feel that we have grown as a group and I know that I have made some new friends. But we haven`t just made friends with each other, we have made friends with the instructors as well.

When we took part in forest school training we learned about how to light fires by foraging for dry sticks, building shelters using nature around us and being informed which plants are edible. When we went navigating we learned how to use a map and a compass. We also learned about the environment around us. When we went canoeing we learned how to use a paddle, how to turn the canoe and how to control where we were going. When we went cycling we learned about how to change gears on the bike, how to go down steep parts of the path and how to ride safely. My favourite part was when we went navigating and we got to the top of Simonside Hills. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself so far and can’t wait to see what we get up to next!   

By Daniel, Year 7